Will We Ever Be Okay With Eating Insects?

Will We Ever Be Okay With Eating Insects?

They’re incredibly packed with protein, go great with tequila and best of all, eating them could potentially delay our inevitable fiery demise that is climate change. They’re also portrayed as hoards of monsters in both the Bible and old Hollywood creature features. That’s right, we’re talking about eating insects — and we won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Quartz reports that Coop, a supermarket chain in Switzerland will be selling mealworm meatballs and insect burgers at select stores. While Essento has been making these bug-filled foods for awhile, the company wasn’t allowed to sell them until this May when Switzerland deemed insects legally safe to eat. A pack of two burger patties are going for 8.95 francs ($9.24).

Of the 7.5 billion humans on Earth, Quartz reports that 2 billion already tuck in to bugs. One college student ate bugs for 30 days. Parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia are already accustomed to the ultra-sustainable creatures, while Western cultures are still trying to wrap their minds around it. But that could gradually change — eating bugs could be the next impossible-themed trend.

Instead of growing meat from stem cells, bugs are already there for the harvesting. They also take up a fraction of land required to raise cattle, pigs and chickens. And they’re easy to make palatable — nobody’s asking anyone to down a can of actual worms. For the squeamish, cricket flour is the most palatable form. Companies like Exo make energy bars out of the stuff. Trouble Makers Inc. makes bitters for cocktails out of toasted crickets. It even makes a great pizza dough. You won’t even know you’re munching on legs and wings and exoskeletons! And when you’re ready to graduate from the powdered stuff, tempura-style fried grasshoppers are a crunchy treat.